> jump back with my C-x stuff like I do with M-. and M-, - any emacs people have suggestions on how to do that?

Using builtin commands, `C-x <left>` will switch to the previous buffer if you've jumped to another file, or `C-u C-SPC` (popping the mark) should work if you're in the same file. Not sure if this is sufficient for you, but it's a simple option to try.